10 applications for Chancellor’s post

At least 10 applications for the post of Chancellor of the Judiciary have been submitted to the relevant authorities. The administration is intent on ensuring that the process of selection is transparent and has the confidence of Guyana. Questioned Thursday on the process which was necessitated with the imminent departure of Chancellor Justice Carl Singh, who has served for more than a decade as the head of the judiciary, Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, said that the applicants are still subject to vetting and interviews. The spokesperson stressed that Government is being careful in the selection process as the final candidate will have to command the confidence of not only the administration but of all Guyana. He pointed to the current selection process for Supreme Court judges in the US which is televised and the applicants’ lives stripped bare before a public that is paying close attention. The choice for a new Chancellor and Chief Justice would come as Government and the Opposition remains at odds over the selection of a new Chairperson for the Guyana Elections Commission.

It would also come as the country gets ready for a possible Court of Appeal ruling on a third presidential term for former President Bharrat Jagdeo. The Chief Justice (ag) is Yonnette CummingsEdwards. She could not have been confirmed since being sworn in by the Coalition Government in December 2015, because Justice Carl Singh is the Chief Justice. The Chief Justice is the most senior judge in the High Court. The persons applying for the positions must be a judge of a court with unlimited jurisdiction in civil and criminal matters in some part of the Commonwealth or a court having jurisdiction in appeals from any such court.

(Kaieteurnews.com)